The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business

Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.

One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.

This episode reminds me of Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk about how difficult it is to keep creating AFTER succes. When you launch and no one gives a sh*t, it is less scarier to launch again, than when people are actually showing interest. Because then it get’s real and you risk overthinking things and having unrealistic expectations. I think you guys are right. He should continue working on this, while tweaking it further. Not wait to launch the perfect product (for that will be a looooong wait). It’s scary but worth it Adam! Thanks for sharing. https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating

Wow. You guys are a bunch of jerks! Just kidding. I really appreciate you discussing so many of my issues on the show. This is like third one! ;)

In all seriousness, though, Chase nailed when he said he though the issue was about me believing the product is worthless. That’s exactly it. It’s like, I made this thing, and I’m not very proud of it and it’s probably not a good as the other options out there, and obviously nobody likes it, even though I somehow conned a bunch of people to pre-order it, and OMG I’M A WORTHLESS HUMAN BEING… ;)

When I was about 2/3 finished with the course, a large company contacted me about promoting and selling the course for me, and it was a huge confidence boost, because this company is very well known and their CEO is like Tim-Ferriss-famous… But after said CEO looked at the *unfinished* course, he had mostly negative things to say (or at least I interpreted it as negative). He said it didn’t feel like a course, because I didn’t have checklists and wrapups and lots of action items, etc. He said it felt like an extension of my podcast and they weren’t interested in promoting that kind of product.

I KNOW it’s psychological, but that feedback was like tripping me at the top of a hill and from then on I was in a tumble that just got faster and more out of control as I rolled down the hill. I had lots of friends tell me it was no big deal and this one person’s feedback was not an indictment of my course. But I was never able to shake that. And I also had a string of failures around that time and I just burned out of everything.

The biggest issue I faced, though, was a lack of feedback from customers altogether. Out of several hundred customers, I’ve received three negative responses (people asked for refunds, etc.) and I’ve received about a dozen positive responses from people telling me how much they loved it. But from everyone else, it was just dead silence. Admittedly, I never *asked* for feedback. It doesn’t really matter though. The issue here is confidence. And I have always had extreme issues believing my work is valuable.

You mentioned taking pride in the fact that your customers have gone on to do great things. I’ve had several people go through the course who are now living off their podcasts full-time. Some of them have even gotten quite famous. But, oddly enough, that doesn’t make me feel any better. If anything, I’m kinda jealous that I have been unable to recreate that kind of success with my own shows…

Geez, so many words, I have… ;)

The point is, I think you were completely correct in your analysis. My issues are mostly mental, and I look for anything to do (like redefining my audience) besides actually marketing and selling the things I’ve made. I know what to do, in terms of marketing and customer research/engagement, but I just need to do it.

Chase Reeves

Adam, thanks for your candor, man. I’m so glad we get to talk about this kind of raw stuff on this show, and so glad you were up for it. Thanks, turkey. We’ll be here as you work yourself out over this.

Elizabeth Schneider

I really need to thank you for sharing your story. I’m even WORSE than you are if it makes you feel better. I have a really popular niche podcast and have done a series of live online courses which have had variable success. I’ve also had fans contact me to do speaking engagements, which I love and which have been really great cash.

But I have yet to monetize my business in a sustainable way — I make like $20K a year and have for the last 5 years (my husband has been floating the ship, and in fairness we had a couple kids during this time so it worked out).

I’m at a critical juncture. I have an agent and am finishing my book. I’ve got a decent fanbase but it’s not growing and I make nothing. I don’t do any active sales or marketing because I’m afraid of rejection and failure and, honestly, I have no clue how to sell. So guess what? After all this work and time and effort, and many wonderful and adoring fans, my family needs me to earn and I probably need to shutter up and get a full time job.

So, even though the crew made fun of you for your psychological block…it could be A LOT worse! At least I know I’m not alone in my fear…

I love that you wrote what you wrote in the Fizzle forum and that it made its way to the podcast. It’s the BEST episode I’ve ever listened to. Listened this morning whilst walking through the park and I was actually talking out loud to myself saying “yep, yep, me too.”

So thank you for being so daringly honest about your experience because everything covered in the show just hit so many nails on the head.

And you Fizzle guys – oh my goodness, I mean, seriously. This was just soooo good in every way. It’s the sort of material that really helps me keep going because it’s the mental stuff that’s always the biggest struggle. What I love most about this show and the reason I follow it over other stuff is because you just say what needs to be said. You’re not pretending to have it all figured out yourselves when you don’t. That kind of honesty is RARE and is so appreciated. Thank you!

The Sparkline is the blog of Fizzle: honest training + vital community for people who want to build their thing and support themselves. It’s for creatives, makers, artists, hackers, bloggers and internetters willing to dig in and care about the what and why of independent business.